January 10, 2008
by Ryan Sasaki, NMR Product Manager, ACD/Labs
As a software company I believe that we have a responsibility to our users to make our products easy to use. A significant amount of time should be (and is) spent every year evaluating how our software can be more user-friendly.
If you browse around the web and look at various software packages, you will almost always find product descriptions that claim the product is, “easy to use”.
But what exactly does this mean?
What makes a software product easy to use?
I absolutely think that a software package should be intuitive, and that it should be easy to understand out of the box.
The reviews I hear regarding ACD/Labs software are generally positive. I have heard from most users that our software is very intuitive and easy to use. But of course I have heard the other side as well and in many cases, the comments were justified. No software package is perfect.
Many of our users over the years have told me that the ideal software product is one where they don’t need to read the manual or watch a movie before using. They should be able to hit the ground running with it.
I would most definitely agree, but the long tail of software has made this more and more difficult and has somewhat changed the game. Software has of course exploded over the years, so the challenge now is how to develop the easy to use, one size fits all software package.
I have to be honest; I think it is near impossible. Why? Because ease of use is subjective. Quite simply, users have been exposed to too much software. There are so many options, so much variety, so many different ways to do things in a software package. I’m not saying this is a bad thing, but it certainly introduces a bigger challenge for product managers and software developers who are
trying to develop the “easiest to use” package.
As a result what tends to happen is that with many options, people end up using the software they have access to. It might not be the best software for what they are trying to do, but it’s the software installed on the computer in the NMR laboratory or the freeware that can be downloaded from the web. They get so used to the intricacies within this particular package, that when something new comes along that may be more suitable for their work they don’t bother committing to it because they are used to the same routine. Old habits die hard.
People are busy and learning a new piece of software that may or may not be useful is not necessarily their job.
However, in my opinion, individuals who do this are committing an awful disservice to themselves.
The first impression on a new package is often that it is hard to use. But is it hard to use? Or is it just unfamiliar?
I am not suggesting that there is no such thing as hard-to-use software. It’s out there, in every industry. But I think that it goes both ways. While it is the responsibility of the product manager and software developer to work as hard as they can to make their packages intuitive and easy to use, users also owe themselves the responsibility to understand the benefits that a specific software package provides and make a conscious attempt to familiarize themselves with the new workflows, interfaces, etc.
If a company is going to charge for their software, my hope is that significant attempts have been made during development to make it easy-to-use. But that term is hard to define and not an
easy task.
I hope that over the last 7 months and 54 blog posts I have helped current users keep up to date on ACD/Labs NMR software, but have also given new users reasons to evaluate our software and commit to reaping the benefits that it can provide.
Note: This unfamiliarity issue of course isn’t anything new and it’s not just a software issue. It’s an issue for the developers of mp3 players, cell phones, remote controls, computers, and cameras. Don’t believe me? Next time you are on vacation ask a fellow tourist to take a picture for you and hand them your camera. I guarantee that they respond with, “What do I do?”
Hint: It’s the button on the top right hand corner 😉